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Verbier Festival draws the elites - and music lovers too

There are thousands of music festivals around Europe every summer, but only one lays claim to being held at the highest altitude and that's the one in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier, sometimes called the Davos of the music world. It gets that nickname in part from the quality of the musicianship. Argentine-born piano star Martha Argerich is a regular, and this year the big names have included Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin, British cellist Steven Isserlis and American violinist Joshua Bell. But the comparison has a deeper root. The three-week-long Verbier Festival, which runs from July until August 3, draws the moneyed elites and big corporate sponsors. George Clooney's smiling face is a fixture around the town as the brand ambassador for food giant Nestle's Nespresso coffee line, while Swiss private banker Julius Baer is another sponsor. Martin Engstroem - the Swedish artists' agent who founded the festival in 1994 and lost 1.2 million Swiss francs ($1.3 million)

Director Michael Bay extends deal with Paramount Pictures

Viacom Inc's unit, Paramount Pictures, said director and producer Michael Bay extended his first-look agreement with the studio by three years. _0"> The agreement with Bay's production company Platinum Dunes starts immediately and was expanded to include Bay Films, Paramount said. Bay has directed and produced films such as "Pearl Harbor," "Armageddon," and the "Transformers" series. (Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza )

Guitarist Dick Wagner, who played for Alice Cooper, dead at 71

Rock guitarist Dick Wagner, whose prolific session work graced the albums of such acts as Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, Kiss and Aerosmith during the 1970s, has died at age 71 in Arizona, his manager said on Thursday. The Michigan-bred musician, featured on scores of albums and hailed by fans as "the Maestro of Rock," suffered from a number of health problems in his later years, including two heart attacks and a stroke. He died on Wednesday at a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona, succumbing to respiratory failure about two weeks after undergoing a cardiac procedure, his manager and business partner, Susan Michelson, told Reuters. Wagner began his rock career in the 1960s with the formation of an early Detroit-area band called the Bossmen. He gained wider notice after establishing the Frost, recording his first three Billboard-charted albums with that group. After moving to New York he formed another band, Ursa Major, whose original but short-lived lineup included Billy Joel on

'Sharknado 2' creates feeding frenzy on Twitter, record audience for Syfy

Flying sharks chomping through New York City drew a record audience for Syfy's "Sharknado 2: The Second One," and became the most tweeted-about TV movie on social media, the U.S. cable network said on Thursday. _0"> "Sharknado 2," which aired on Wednesday and reunited leading stars Tara Reid and Ian Ziering from last year's campy hit "Sharknado," drew 3.9 million viewers to become Syfy's most-watched original movie. The network added that the film also attracted 1.6 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic that advertisers covet. On Twitter, Syfy, a unit of Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal, said "Sharknado 2" garnered 1 billion impressions across conversations on the micro-blogging site, and was also among the top trending topics of Wednesday evening. In the movie, an aerial shark attack causes large-scale destruction across Manhattan. It features numerous cameos including "Today" show hosts Matt Lauer and Al R

Verbier Festival draws the elites - and music lovers too

There are thousands of music festivals around Europe every summer, but only one lays claim to being held at the highest altitude and that's the one in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier, sometimes called the Davos of the music world. It gets that nickname in part from the quality of the musicianship. Argentine-born piano star Martha Argerich is a regular, and this year the big names have included Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin, British cellist Steven Isserlis and American violinist Joshua Bell. But the comparison has a deeper root. The three-week-long Verbier Festival, which runs from July until August 3, draws the moneyed elites and big corporate sponsors. George Clooney's smiling face is a fixture around the town as the brand ambassador for food giant Nestle's Nespresso coffee line, while Swiss private banker Julius Baer is another sponsor. Martin Engstroem - the Swedish artists' agent who founded the festival in 1994 and lost 1.2 million Swiss francs ($1.3 million)

'Guardians' rallies summer box office with $11.2 million opening night

The "Guardians of the Galaxy" stormed into the box office with a $11.2 million opening night, Walt Disney Co said on Friday, and could outperform expectations if it keeps drawing viewers with a new leading man, strong reviews and social media buzz. _0"> "Guardians," the newest franchise from the Disney-owned Marvel universe, follows a rogue band of misfits on an intergalactic space adventure. As the Guardians try to save the galaxy from a planet-destroying orb coveted by evil warlords, they may also "save the summer" for a slumping movie industry if the film exceeds expectations, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. "This is a movie that everyone has been waiting for," Dergarabedian said. Hollywood's summer box office has been in a funk, producing fewer blockbusters than usual and putting ticket sales 20 percent behind last year at $2.93 billion. Early projections for the "Guardians" opening weeke

Jason Mraz's first summer job? Sweaty, hard work

Summer jobs: The very mention brings up memories of low pay, long hours and sweaty, clueless teenagers who don't really know what they're doing. Memories like that are still vivid for some of the nation's greatest achievers. Since last August, Reuters has been gathering the first-job stories of successful Americans, including sports legends, business titans and media superstars. This month, to coincide with the nation's monthly jobs report, we spoke to a few of them about those memorable summer jobs that got them started. JASON MRAZ, SINGER AND SONGWRITER First summer job: Fence builder "My dad was a fence contractor in Mechanicsville, Virginia, so my first paying gig was building fences. It involved a lot of digging holes, cleaning up construction sites and distributing lumber. It was for $5 an hour, which, at the time, was more than minimum wage." "It was hard manual labor, and I certainly would rather have been at the pool with my friends r